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All books listed in this section can be ordered through our web site Artcymru.co.uk. Profits from sales help to ensure the continuation of the site and the Welsh Arts Archive.
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To order please send email to
Or send a cheque made payable to
"Artcymru.co.uk"
to:
Artcymru.co.uk, 45 Rhyddwen Road, Craig Cefn Parc, Swansea. SA6 5RA
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Reviews edited by
Bernard Mitchell
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Most books reviewed are in print, and are for sale from Artcymru.co.uk . But some are out of print, for this I make no excuses, for they are all important to the history of the art and artists of Wales. So, get down your local library and make a nuisance of yourself there, or you could email my friend Jeff Towns, at Dylan's Bookstore in Swansea, who is the expert in all things second-hand in Welsh books. Tell him I sent you, then he will owe me a pint.
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"Aneurin"
Aneurin Jones is a true Cardi, and this book of a life times work of paintings and drawings, reflects his love for the countryside and people of this part of West Wales. He captures the ethos of this very welsh part of Wales, the life of the farming community, with their sheep dogs and Welsh Cob ponies, the chapel and the pub. Between the illustrations, are poems in Welsh, as well as articles about the work in English and Welsh. To quote from Aneurin's own artists statement, "Art critics and artists, in the period of modernism, have been responsible for estranging people from visual art. For me, the true critics of my work are those whose roots are in the same soil as my own - those who understand 'knowing' and belonging'.
£19.95. 104pages hardback.
Post & Packing £2.50
Total = £22.45
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The cover image of the new book
'Aneurin'
Painting by Aneurin Jones
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Will Roberts RCA
- Drawings
Edited by Paul Joyner.
Cover of "Will Roberts RCA - Drawings"
It was while photographing Kyffin Williams for the first time at his studio near Llanfair P.G. in 1990, that I asked if he would give me a list of the six artists in Wales who I should photograph for posterity. Top of Kyffin's list was Will Roberts, "the best painter in South Wales" he said. Will Roberts, lived and worked in Neath, and in 1998 generously donated over 600 drawings to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. It was at the National Library, that Paul Joyner, a historian in the Department of Maps and Pictures showed me the mounted drawings, a moving experience. Paul has put together this tribute to a life-time devoted to observing and drawing. The book contains articles by Will's widow, Phyllis and daughter Sian as well as an essay by Will and an introduction by Sir Kyffin Williams. It is a measure of the respect and interest in Will Robert's work, that this book is already sold out, However a trip to your local library would be well worthwhile.
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"Nailing to the Cross" 1970's
"Aberdulais Tin Works" 1947
"Sian" 1956.
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Mary Lloyd Jones -
The Colour of Saying
edited by Eve Ropek.
The bold and expressive use of colour in the unique landscapes of Mary Lloyd Jones, are enough to make the temperature rise in any red blooded Welshman. Mary's work, apart from her travels in India, reflect the hills and valleys of her native Ceredigion, West Wales. The Colour of Saying contains a comprehensive collection of recent work put together for a major exhibition at Aberystwyth University Arts Centre. It contains chapters entitled, Lead mines and scars, Travels in India, Marks and alphabets, Other places, as well as articles by two of Wale's leading writers Nigel Jenkins and Gillian Clarke amongst others. In May's own words, "My aim, is not to reproduce outward appearances but to attempt to convey the spirit of a particular place. Through my work I try to create links with the past, to the lives of previous generations. to folk memory and to the myths and legend, all of which contribute to the atmosphere of the landscape. I would like to bring about a heightened awareness of the land and the multi-faceted nature of our understanding of it".
£19.95. 120pages. Paperback.
Post & Packing £2.50
Total = £22.45
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Cover of "Colour of Saying"
"Llyn y Fan 11
"
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The Visual Culture of Wales - Industrial Society,
Peter Lord.
£25.
272 pages, hardback.
The Visual Culture of Wales - Imaging the Nation
Peter Lord
. £30.
416 pages, hardback.
The publication of the first two volumes of the three volume set, of The Visual Culture of Wales by Peter Lord is a long overdue event in the history of Welsh art and artists. The first two volumes deal with a period from the 1600's to 1960 and are essential reading for anyone interested in the subject. Both volumes are available in both English and Welsh, separately, and are packed with hundreds of finely printed illustrations of the artists and their work. Peter Lord who is a Research Fellow at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth, where the research was carried out, has managed to establish at last that Wales does have a visual cultural heritage. He has highlighted some of our great and forgotten artists, such as Swansea's Evans Walters,and Cedric Morris, as well as, Ray Howard Jones, Vera Bassett, Brenda Chamberlain and John Petts to name just a few. If only for that, he should be praised for what I think is a tremendous achievement.
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Image from "The Visual Culture of Wales -
Industrial Society
Evan Charlton - "Port Road East (Harbour Cardiff)." c.1953.
Images from 'Visual Culture of Wales -
Imaging the Nation'
Evan Walters - National Eisteddfod poster Swansea 1926.
Alfred Janes - "Dylan Thomas" c.1934.
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John Elwyn
by Robert Meyrick.
Robert Meyrick, artist and art historian, works at Aberystwyth University, School of Art, and must be congratulated at the thoroughness of his research and writing on the life and work of John Elwyn. John Elwyn's work was influenced by his childhood memories of Cardiganshire, its people and countryside. Although, he lived for most of his working life in Winchester, Hampshire, he returned home to Wales on a regular basis to paint. He also had close friendships with many artists and writers resident in Wales, such as John Petts, John Ormond, and Glyn Jones, and some of his work was based on the poems of Dylan Thomas, for example Fernhill. When I photographed John, at his home in Winchester, I remarked on the way he worked in a windowless cellar, with only fluorescent lights, he replied, " All the colours are in my head, so it makes no difference". It is for me, his use of colour that make him stand out as one of the great painters of Wales.
£25.00. 136 pages hardback.
Post 7 Packing £2.50
Total = £27.50
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Front cover
"The Egg" by John Elwyn 1952
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